The plants grown by Wageningen University researchers in Mars-like soil back in March have been analyzed and the results are excellent: at least four of the crops do not contain harmful heavy metal levels and are perfectly safe to eat, the University researchers report.

    If you've seen The Martian, you can remember how much Matt Damon got done living off of his poo-powered crop of potatoes. It just goes to show how important it is for a long-term colony to be able to grow their own food locally. We've taken one step closer to that goal in March, when Netherlands' Wageningen University reported that they've managed to grow ten different crops in Mars-like soil.

    However, growing food doesn't do us much good if eating it kills us, and researchers were worried that these crops contained dangerous heavy metals like lead or cadmium(镉) from the martian soil. But future colonists are delighted, as lab analysis of the crops determined that at least four of them are safe to eat.

    Led by ecologist Wieger Wamelink, the team tested radishes, tomatoes, rye, and peas. They looked at cadmium, lead, aluminium(铝), nickel(镍), copper, chrome(铬), iron, arsenic(砷), manganese(锰), and zinc(锌) contents in the plants, and didn't find any in dangerous levels. In fact, some of these vegetables have lower levels of heavy metals than those grown in regular potting soil. The plants were also tested for vitamins, alkaloids(生物碱), and flavonoids(类黄酮), with good results. While there are six more crops to test, Wamelink himself said that the results up to now are “very promising.”

    “Growing food locally is especially important to our mission of permanent settlement, as we have to ensure sustainable food production on Mars. The results of Dr. Wamelink and his team at Wageningen University & Research are significant progress towards that goal,” said Mars One co-founder and CEO Bas Lansdorp in a press release.

    A crowdfunding campaign is underway (and will be until the end of August) to fund the test of the remaining crops, potatoes included. If all the crops test out safe, with concentrations of heavy metal the FDA and the Dutch Food Agency consider as safe, Wamelink's team will host a “Martian dinner” at the Wageningen greenhouse. But I've seen the movie. Stay clear of the potatoes.

    Winter running is the best way to lose winter weight. But before heading out, make sure you have a solid plan. You don't want to come across accident along the way. {#blank#}1{#/blank#}

    Wear the Right Shoes

    The right shoes will depend on the road. You want shoes that are made for the kind of surface you run on. For example, if you are running on slippery surfaces, you want shoes with great friction(摩擦力). {#blank#}2{#/blank#} When trying out a pair of running shoes, check the fit, feel and ride of the shoes. These elements(要素) are important once you take your new shoes out for a run.

    Warm Up

    Warm up is an important part to keep fit. Especially if temperatures drop and your muscles are stiff(僵硬的) from the cold! {#blank#}3{#/blank#} It also prepares the muscles for the intense (激烈的) activity ahead. The cold climate won't feel as cold when you do warm ups. This is because blood flows much faster after a good warm up!

    Deal with Wind

    {#blank#}4{#/blank#}The key is to run into the wind and finish by running against it. This keeps icy wind from blasting(用力撞击) your face. To prevent any injuries or accidents, break your run into small parts. {#blank#}5{#/blank#} You can use certain creams on the nose and cheeks to prevent frostbite(冻疮).Don't skip your sun-block if you're running during the day. UVB(紫外线)passes through the clouds. Running for an extended period on a cloudy day will still damage the skin!

A．Don't run in the wind.

B．Running makes you warm.

C．Warming up prevents injuries.

D．It's hard to run if it's too windy.

E．Your shoes should fit very well so you don't slip.

F．Here we are giving you important tips to remember.

G．It also helps to keep the skin protected from the wind.

    New York—Michelle Obama made a daring decision to return to the same designer who created her Inaugural (就职）Ball dress four years ago —and the risk paid off.

    The First Lady looked extremely attractive in a thin, sweeping, and ruby-colored dress by designer Jason Wu. She teamed the dramatic dress with heels by Jimmy Choo and a diamond ring by Kimberly McDonald.

    She surprised the fashion establishment by returning to a Wu design which had been the custom made for her.

    Four years ago at her first Inauguration Ball, Michelle shimmered（熠熠生辉）in an off-white, one-shouldered floor-length dress by the designer.

    Wu, who was 26 at the time and had only been working in fashion for three years, saw his career take off after the First Lady's surprise decision to wear one of his dresses.

    He said at the time that he was unaware she had chosen the dress and had been watching at home on his couch and eating pizza when she appeared.

    After her 2013 decision, Wu told Women's Wear Daily: “Mrs Obama likes to keep her secrets. She fooled me again.”

    Wu released a women's clothing and accessories（装饰品）collection at Target last year and continues to be popular with the First Lady for official engagements.

    The sleeveless, cross-halter neck dress with low-cut back flattered（突出）49-year-old Michelle's arms and neat waist.

    It had been created especially for her by Wu and was a departure from the dark and plain colour tone she stuck to at earlier inauguration events.

    Mrs Obama's new hairstyle —she had bangs（美发沙龙）cut on her birthday last week  had been loosely tousled（蓬松的）for the special night.

    Vice-President Joe Biden's wife Jill also looked attractive in a blue silk dress by Vera Wang at the Inauguration Ball.

    The evidence for harmony may not be obvious in some families. But it seems that four out of five young people now get on well with their parents, which is the opposite of the popularly-held image of unhappy teenagers locked in their room after endless family quarrels.

    An important new study into teenage attitudes surprisingly shows that their family life is more harmonious than it had ever been in the past. “We were surprised by just how positive today's young people seem to be about their families,” said one member of the research team. “They're expected to be rebellious(叛逆的) and selfish but actually they have other things on their minds: they want a car and material goods, and they worry about whether school is serving them well. There's more negotiation(商议) and discussion between parents and children, and children expect to take part in the family decision-making process. They don't want to rock the boat.”

    So it seems that this generation of parents is much more likely than parents of 30 years ago to treat their children as friends. “My parents are happy to discuss things with me and willing to listen to me,” says 17-year-old Daniel Lazall. “I always tell them when I'm going out clubbing. As long as they know what I'm doing, they're fine with me.” Susan Crome, who is now 21, agrees. “Looking back on the last 10 years, there was a lot of what you could call negotiation. For example, as long as I'd done all my homework, I could go out on a Saturday night. But I think my grandparents were a lot stricter with my parents than that.”

    Maybe this positive view of family life should not be unexpected. It is possible that the idea of teenage rebellion(反抗) is not rooted in real facts. A researcher comments, “Our surprise that teenagers say they get along well with their parents comes because of a brief period in our social history when teenagers were regarded as different beings. But that idea of rebelling and breaking away from their parents really only happened during that one time in the 1960s when everyone rebelled. The normal situation throughout history has been a smooth change from helping out with the family business to taking it over. ”

    One advantage of the Internet is shopping conveniently online for clothes; one disadvantage of the Internet is also shopping conveniently online for clothes.

    "Nothing fits," said Lam Yuk Wong, a senior in electrical and computer engineering at Rice University. "Everyone says this. They order clothes and they don't fit. People get very unhappy."

    Wong and her design partner, Xuaner "Cecilia" Zhang, are Team White Mirror, creators of what they call a "virtual (虚拟)fitting room". Their goal is simple and consumer-friendly: to let online clothing shoppers have a perfect fit and a perfect look when shopping every time. Both women are from China, Wong from Hong Kong and Zhang from Beijing. They both order most of their clothing online. They got the idea from their own experience as consumers and from listening to the complaints of friends and relatives. "They say, 'The color is wrong' or 'I got the right size but it still does not fit.' We want to make it like you're in the store trying on the clothes," Zhang said.

    Using a Kinect developed by Microsoft for use with its Xbox 360 video game player, Zhang scans Wong and turns her image into, in effect, a virtual model, keeping Wong's dimensions (尺寸), and even her skin and hair color. "We put the clothes on the shopper's 3-D body models and show how they look when they are dressed," Wong said. So far, Wong and Zhang have adapted the software to show dresses and shirts, and they are now working on shorts.

    Asked if she thought men as well as women might be interested in using their virtual fitting room, Wong said, "I think their wives will care about this, so it will also be important to men."

Video calls are a common occurrence, but have you imagined being able to touch the person on the other end of the line? Scientists are making this a reality.

Researchers at the University of New South Wales, Australia, have invented a soft skin stretch device (SSD), a haptic device that can recreate the sense of touch. Haptic technology can mimic the experience of touch by stimulating localized areas of the skin in ways that are similar to what is felt in the real world, through force, vibration or motion.

Vibration is the most common haptic technology today and has been built into many electronic devices, such as one attached to the back of a trackpad in laptops. However, haptic feedback with vibration becomes less sensitive when used continuously. The existing technology also has great difficulty recreating the sense of touch with objects in virtual environments or located remotely.

The new technology overcomes issues with existing haptic devices. The research team introduced a novel method to recreate the sense of touch through soft, artificial "muscles".

It works like this: imagine you call a friend in Australia. You wear a haptic glove with the SSDs and your friend also wears a glove with 3D force sensors. If your friend picks up an object, it will physically press against your friend's fingers. And the glove with 3D force sensors will measure these interactions. The force signals can be sent to your glove so your device will generate the same 3D forces, making you experience the same sense of touch as your friend.

The haptic devices could be used in various fields, allowing users to feel objects inside a virtual world or at a distance. This could be especially beneficial during such times like the COVID-19 pandemic when people rely on video calls to stay connected with loved ones. Or it could be used in medical practices. Doctors can feel a patient's organ tissues without touching them.